What diseases do wild animals carry?

Wild animals can be quite dangerous to you for many reasons. Because of the lack of domestication, it is not uncommon for them to attack people that they come across. After all, they see you as a potential threat and so striking at you is a means of ensuring that they protect themselves from whatever potential risk you may offer to them.

However, that is not the only reason that you should be worried about wild animals. No matter what kind of animal you were talking about, they all have the potential to carry illnesses and pathogens that can pose a serious risk to your health. Depending upon the area you live in, you may need to know what diseases do wild animals carry that live around you?

This is a good thing to look up and no. The truth is that no matter where you live there are going to be wild animals that live around you. While you can contract diseases that these animals carry by coming in contact with them or being bitten or scratched by them, you also can get illnesses simply by coming in contact with their waste. This may seem very troubling to you, but the fact of the matter is that the feces and urine of animals pose just as much of a risk to you as them scratching or biting you.

For example, one of the most common kinds of viruses that wild animals carry is the hantavirus. This is very dangerous should you contract it, because it can shut down your kidneys and create respiratory distress for you. This can lead to such things as headaches, nausea, fever, diarrhea, and can even lead to death if not treated right away. The saddest part about this is that you contract this illness simply by coming in contact with the urine or feces of a wild animal. The animal can be gone for weeks but if the waste remains then you are at risk.

Several kinds of illnesses can be passed by you eating wild animals. Many people choose to eat such things as raccoon or squirrel, even finding them to be a regular staple within their diet. If you do not cook the meat properly, you can wind up with trichinosis, a disease that is commonly passed through improperly cooked pork. This is why you have to be very careful when eating meat from wild animals to prevent yourself from contracting illnesses.

Of course, one of the scariest of all of the illnesses that a person can get from a wild animal is rabies. While not many animals carry this in large numbers, the fact of the matter is that raccoons and bats commonly have rabies. According to researchers about 20% of these animals are known to carry the rabies virus, which is life-threatening to you should you contract it.

The important thing is that if there are wild animals that live in your area that it is a good idea that you check to see what kind of diseases they carry and how you can contract them.
Read more: Florida Wildlife Control